The smell was malty, dark chocolate and buscuits, but not a Christmas type aroma.

The front label picture shows a cat in front of an open fire. There is no hint of either in the taste, I don't like cats anyway, would have enjoyed some fire-like flavours or feel to the beer, sadly there was none. It had a malt and mini hop flavour, pleasant but not exciting.

The aftertaste didn't do a great deal to my overall appraisel, the beer lacked a true depth and a Christmas feel to it. The Goldings and Northdown hops do produce a wintery flavour but not enough to save this slightly disappointing brew.